Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Way Too Philosiphical Post

So, I'm going to keep this post from being way too sad. It's March, and in just a couple of days we'll all be sporting green, toasting with Guiness, and maybe even enjoying a parade. St. Patrick's Day! Don't forget to have a traditional Irish meal: shepherd's pie, or corn beef with cabbage, or a nice hardy stew. Geez, I'm making myself hungry! I actually remember my paternal grandmother making Shepherd's Pie with leftovers; it was so tasty I forgot it was really a cost saving casserole. I might have to try to recreate it on the 17th.

When you think about it, the world has sort of gone back around in its circle. We're scrimping and saving, like our grandparents did, mending and making do as they did in the late twenties and early thirties, stretching every penny to the point it bounces like rubber. My paternal grandmother used to take sugar packets from restaurants, slip them in her purse, and take them home. She never let food go to waste; it was kin to sacrilege. My maternal grandmother sewed and knitted and mended everything, so that she could stretch her wardrobe a good two to three years. Both had gardens and canned anything that could be eaten. People are Googling Depression Era Recipes now and digging out the sewing machine to help deal. Because I lived so long with all of my grandparents' ways (which also became my parents' ways), buckling down isn't so strange to me. It's not so much the old/new way of living, as seeing it all swing back around. It makes me wonder when the eighties will rear its head again.

So now I've fallen into philosophizing, and I have a feeling if I keep going on it won't end well. I'll be all dust in the wind, every rose has its thorn, like sands through the hourglass.... This is why my Philosophy Professor always reminded me to keep my answers to four sentences or less. Have a great rest of the week, enjoy St. Patrick's Day, and maybe go check out Depression Era Recipes on YouTube.